At Mariners game: "President Bush is a monkey's butt" in Japanese

[Newsjock]

http://thestranger.com/2003-09-11/other_news.html

On August 29, Randolph Sill headed to a Mariners game with a homemade sign decked out with slogans written in Japanese kanji, along with the number of Sill's favorite player, Ichiro Suzuki. Whenever Ichiro came up to bat, Sill would hold his sign high. Sill, who's spent time in Japan, knows Japanese television regularly broadcasts Mariners games and spotlights signs for its native son Ichiro.

Here's what Sill's sign said: On one side, the kanji read, "President Bush is a monkey's butt." On the other: "Americans are ashamed of our corrupt president."

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[Cha]

1. How did the security staff know what the sign said in Japanese?

I am highly "amused"!

[alfredo]

2. they will now. n/t

[demgrrrll]

3. I love this guy! How creative. n/t.

.

[neomonkey]

6. Well zidzi, let me tell ya...

I live in L.A., and many of my childhood and current friends are Japanese...

and they are ferociously conservative and Republican (I'm speaking of Japanese Americans). And though they indulge in this political fetish, they still keep in touch with their heritage, and hence, I'm sure there are quite a few right-wing Japanese in Seattle and elsewhere who know the language as well...

[Goldenboy]

8. Voting patterns of Japanese Americans

That's interesting, noting that a lot of Japanese Americans you know are very conservative and Republican.

This doesn't seem to jibe with my observations up here in Nor Cal. Most of the Japanese American politicians in California are Democrats. I would also think that the incarceration in relocation camps during WWII makes many Japanese Americans, particulary the older ones, extremely supportive of civil liberties. Honda, Matsui, Mineta are all Democrats.

The biggest and most right wing Japanese American official in history was S.I. Hayakawa, who put down the student protestors at S.F. State University in the 1960s, served as a US Senator to California in the 1970s, and was part of US English, the advocacy group which pushes English to be an official language.

Also, most of the Japanese Americans my age (30s to 40s) are third to fourth generation, and know very little Japanese language if at all. I think the WWII camp experience compeled many J-A families to be "200% American" and downplay their ethnicity a bit.

[Stupdworld]

10. hm

Interesting indeed

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Ha Ha, I like this part

Sill, who hoped his sign would be broadcast on TV here and in Japan, says many Japanese fans at Safeco Field smiled and winked when they read his sign.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. I love it!

Somebody teach me Kangi quick!

[disgruntella]

7. That is so sweet

One thing we know for sure - Bush would never be able to read it!

[Goldenboy]

9. What would be the actual wording?

Let's see, President Bush is a monkey's butt in Japanese would be:

"Bushi daitoryo wa saru no oshiri desu".

[louis-t]

14. Thank you...

I will practice this until I can say it from memory! I love it.

[fortyfeetunder]

11. Why stop at a baseball game?

DU, here is an opportunity for a new T-shirt slogan.

Wonder how to say "Whistle Ass" in Kanji?

[Goldenboy]

12. Some distinctions need to be clarified.

"Kanji" means Chinese characters, which the Japanese have adapted into their language. Japanese is also composed of two syllable systems, called Hiragana and Katakana, which are used together with Kanji to write Japanese.

You don't "speak" or "say" Kanji---it's strictly a written format.

I don't know how one would translate 'whistle ass', but I'll try.

[fortyfeetunder]

13. Thanks for the clarification

If you can get me the Kanji translation for WA, I'll make up my own sign to take to the next Mariners game I attend....

[UrbScotty]

15. LOL! ROTFLMGDAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:thumbsup: :toast: B-) :7 }( :D :) ;-)